Esholt, West Yorkshire
Esholt is a villae in the Metropolitan Borough Of Bradford, West Yorkshire. It was used for the village scenes for Emmerdale from 1976 to 1997 until they moved to a purpose built replica of Esholt, the Emmerdale "Village" on the Harewood Estate. In May 2010 my dream of visiting Esholt came true. One Sunday morning the family and me drove 210 miles to Esholt from Norfolk. When we parked by the viaduct and I saw the shop and Woolpack for the first time for real I was chuffed. 6 years later, I visited the Harewood set. And this page is all about Esholt itself and its use before and during being used for village scenes for Emmerdale. Village Info Esholt is a small village in West Yorkshire inbetween Shipley and Guiseley and just north of the city of Bradford. The village is situated in the Metropolitan District of Bradford. The name "Esholt" indicated the village was settled in a heavily wooded area of ash trees. In the 1800s the village expanded because a waterworks was built and they needed cottages for the workers. Usage in Emmerdale Farm/Emmerdale 1975-1997 In 1975 Esholt was chosen as the village to film the village scenes of the ITV soap opera Emmerdale Farm. Before that, filming previously took place in the Littondale village of Arncliffe, North Yorkshire but a location closer to the Yorkshire Television Studios, Leeds was chosen. In the show this was explained as being a different part of Beckindale village, the fictional village in the show, (Beckindale renamed Emmerdale in 1994). We first saw Esholt in village scenes of Emmerdale Farm on Episode 291 (26th January 1976) when Mel Openshaw drove past the building that was soon chosen as the new Woolpack. In 1995 when Emmerdale was to be shown 3 times a week, the location filming schedule in Esholt got heavier. Tourists flocked on the village, and the residents kept having to move their cars, and stay indoors during shots, and tourists were told not to get into shot or take photographs. In 1997 a replica of Esholt was built on the Harewood Estate near Leeds, designed by Mike Long, the series set designer. Mike oversaw the construction of the new "Village". In December 1997, after 22 years of filming the "Emmerdale Village" scenes there, the Emmerdale production team waved goodbye to Esholt and this meant the villagers would not have to put up with the filming disrupting their lives anymore. In mid January 1998 after the Christmas and New Year break, the Emmerdale production team started filming the village scenes on the picturesque new life size "village", first appearing on screen in Episode 2325 (18th February 1998) which featured Kim Tate stealing milk from the milk float parked outside The Woolpack. The Harewood village is not an exact replica of Esholt and several viewers wrote in to Yorkshire TV noticing the change. Although the geographical relationship between the pub, the post office, Pear Tree Cottage, Victoria, Cottage, Keepers Cottage and Mill Brook Cottage is virtually identical to Esholt. They made the stonework more like a Dales Village which is rubble style limestone whereas Esholt's is coursed sandstone. Some parts of the Harewood village have a similarity to Arncliffe such as the bridge, cemetery and river even if they probably did not base it on Arncliffe, and not forgetting some of the buildings in Harewood which are copied from Esholt are menat to be the same buildings in the fictional show to what they were in the Arncliffe days, ie smithy, school, village hall and bridge. First appearance of Esholt in Emmerdale Farm scenes Episode 291 (26th January 1976) Last appearance of Esholt in Emmerdale Farm scenes Episode 2323 (12th February 1998) Stills from first ever and last ever scenes filmed in Esholt Emmie woolpack move pic 3.png|First ever Esholt filmed scene of Emmerdale Farm shown on screen, 26 January 1976. emmie last ever scene in esholt.png|Last ever Esholt filmed scene shown on screen in Emmerdale, 13 February 1998. For many years in The Woolpack in the show, a photo of Ronald Magill aka Amos stood outside the Esholt Woolpack hung above the bar. In the studio set used as the village hall in the Harewood set, photos of Esholt can be seen, taken from YTV publicity shots during filming of Emmerdale Farm/Emmerdale. Legacy of Emmerdale left in Esholt Esholt still attracts many tourists to this day, 18 years since Emmerdale stopped filming there. Holiday companies run an Emmerdale Tours coach trip, not to be confused with the Sunday March--October tours of the Harewood set which started in 2016, the only day the set is not used for filming. Late 2017 will be 20 years since filming stopped in Esholt when they moved to the Harewood replica. Trivia *It is assumed that on one or 2 occasions inbetween 1998 and 2002 that the Emmerdale production team did use Esholt church for church scenes in Emmerdale, but this has not yet been confirmed. A study of wedding episodes of Emmerdale shown inbetween 1998 and mid 2002 will answer this, study the look of the churches they filmed at. They did however film at various churches in the Yorkshire area until 2002 when Zoe Tate burned down the church and soon after the recently vacated tea rooms at the old school house, on the Harewood set was to become the new Emmerdale Village church. Photo tour of the village Now here are a few photos of the village, from my own personal collection of photos I took in Esholt in May 2010. The photo, right is of Esholt post office and houses nearby on the main road which runs through the village. The post office was used as the village post office in Emmerdale. The Woolpack, Esholt. Used as the exterior of the Woolpack in Emmerdale. Esholt Woolpack was once the Commercial Inn but due to tourists visiting the name was changed to the Woolpack to match the fictional pub in the Emmerdale story. The slip road to and from the car park behind the Woolpack in Esholt. The back of the Woolpack. In December 1993 when a plane crashed on the village a piece of wreckage hit the wine bar extension of the Woolpack trapping Chris Tate in the rubble. The scenes where he was found was filmed here. A purpose built temporary extension to the Woolpack was built for the scenes. Esholt tea rooms and the church in the background. This building was used as the exterior of the Emmerdale Tea Rooms. And Esholt Church which can be seen behind, which was used for the scenes of baptisms, weddings and funerals in Emmerdale. Gallery A gallery of many more pics of Esholt I took during my visit there. DSCN1022.JPG|The slip road inbetween the Woolpack and Pear Tree Cottage. DSCN0939.JPG|Inside The Woolpack DSCN0957.JPG|Bunkers Hill, (Demdyke Row in Emmerdale) DSCN0986.JPG|Panoramic view of Esholt. Episodes where Esholt has appeared in Emmerdale village scenes Right my next task is to do a definitive list of episodes that Esholt has appeared in the Emmerdale Farm, later Emmerdale series from 1976 to 1998. It may take a while as it would involve watching many episodes and I dont have every episode in my DVD collection. But here is a list of episodes I have watched where Esholt has appeared in the serial. Episodes where Esholt has appeared in Beckindale/Emmerdale village scenes 1976 *Episode 291 (26th January 1976) *Episode 295 (9th February 1976) *Episode 298 (17th February 1976) *Episode 299 (23rd February 1976) *Episode 300 (24th February 1976) *Episode 309 (29th March 1976) 1977 * 1978 * 1979 * 1980 * 1981 * 1982 * 1983 * 1984 * 1985 * 1986 *Episode 1047 (8th May 1986) 1987 * 1988 *Episode 1218 (28th January 1988) *Episode 1219 (3rd February 1988) *Episode 1221 (10th February 1988) *Episode 1222 (11th February 1988) *Episode 1229 (9th March 1988) *Episode 1234 (24th March 1988) *Episode 1235 (30th March 1988) *Episode 1261 (6th July 1988) *Episode 1267 (27th July 1988) *Episode 1268 (28th July 1988) *Episode 1269 (3rd August 1988) *Episode 1275 (24th August 1988) 1989 * 1990 * 1991 * 1992 * 1993 * 1994 *Episode 1830 (4th January 1994) *Episode 1831 (5th January 1994) *Episode 1832 (6th January 1994) 1995 *Episode 2026 (14th November 1995) 1996 *Episode 2049 (30th January 1996) 1997 * 1998 *Episode 2306 (6th January 1998) *Episode 2311 (15th January 1998) *Episode 2'314 (22nd January 1998) *Episode 2323 (12th February 1998) Category:Real life locations used in Emmerdale. Category:Emmerdale filming locations.